


From One Artist to Another

by AwashSquid



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 20:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15202490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwashSquid/pseuds/AwashSquid
Summary: Michiru sees a fellow artist in Chibi-Usa.





	From One Artist to Another

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came from a post by @presidentnerd on Tumblr, so I can't take credit for it!

Michiru padded over the plush area rug in the living room to sit in her favorite chair, a hot cup of tea delicately balanced in one hand, the novel she was currently perusing tucked underneath her arm. The tea cup clinked gently against the marble coaster on the end table as she set it down, watching the steam curl upwards gently and dissipate into the air. She turned to retrieve a blanket out of the chest, the encroaching winter chilling the air, when she spotted an item that did not belong in the carefully cultivated decor of the space. 

On the corner of the glass coffee table was a sketchpad--one of the cheaper ones, she noted habitually--that was well-worn, the corners of the pages rolling upwards, a stain marking one spot towards the center. Michiru crossed and picked up the foreign book, noting the melange of worn stickers decorating its cover, before flipping through its pages. 

The first page declared in fanciful lettering: “CHIBI-USA’S DRAWINGS.” That would explain its presence, then, she mused, fingers leafing through the thick pages with deft precision cultivated from years of skimming through her own similar tomes. Professor Tomoe had not yet been declared mentally fit to raise Hotaru, not since the “tragic explosion” that had overtaken the Mugen School a few years back. He was a loving and doting father, but his frequent memory lapses meant that he had been confined to a group living facility since that time.

He had been surprised, but not ungrateful, when Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna had offered to take Hotaru during his rehabilitation, Michiru offering up expertly forged paperwork declaring them to be cousins of Hotaru’s mother (easy enough to obtain for someone with her wealth and connections). The young girl had aged rapidly from baby to toddler to teenager, but her growth seemed to have stalled and returned to a normal pace somewhere around the age of sixteen. Chibi-Usa had been delighted by this rekindled opportunity to spend time with her best friend and had become a frequent visitor in their flat, the two teens typically shut up in Hotaru’s room, the door open just a crack at Haruka’s protective insistence.

The drawings weren’t half-bad, Michiru recognized with some measure of surprise as she flipped through them. Many towards the beginning of the pages were of Pegasus in various landscapes, then one with the horse looking into a mirror where a young boy was looking back, fingertips touching the glass barrier lightly. There was a degree of awkwardness to the proportions, but the expression on his face was captivatingly rendered, sadness and resignation evident on his carefully penciled visage. Michiru sat on the couch absently and continued to look through the book at pages depicting what she assumed to be Crystal Tokyo, a few rough sketches of Diana, an unflattering caricature of Usagi shoving rice cakes into her mouth, and various other subject matters before landing on the final drawing. 

It was Hotaru, looking at the viewer with a knowing smile not dissimilar to the Mona Lisa’s, her eyes kind and wise even as there appeared to be a distance between her and the audience. The proportions were a little imperfect, the shading rough and the lighting inconsistent, but Chibi-Usa had managed to capture the essence of Hotaru’s character in the sketchy lines of the face, and the eyes of the drawing were captivating, showing a true promise of talent.

Michiru shut the sketchpad gently and placed it back onto the coffee table, then rose and went upstairs to dress, tea forgotten and growing cold in its cup where she had left it. She had some calls to make.

\--

“Hello?” Usagi answered the door, a confused smile appearing on her face. “Michiru! What’s up? Um, I mean, how can I help you? Do you need something?” She danced a little on the balls of her feet, clearly nervous even after years of knowing the older woman. Michiru pushed away the thought that Usagi would naturally assume she wanted something from her rather than just stopping by for a visit and instead smiled back placidly.

“Hello, Usagi. I was wondering if Chibi-Usa was home. Might I come in?” Usagi nodded and stepped out of the way, shutting the door as Michiru delicately slipped out of her shoes.

“Lemme just go grab her! Um, you can sit down, or whatever; be right back!” With that, Usagi bounded out of the room and up the stairs. Michiru could hear a muffled shout of “CHIBI-USA! MICHIRU’S HERE FOR YOU!” followed by the reply, similarly bellowed. She felt a small smile turn up the corners of her mouth. Perhaps it was that Chibi-Usa was a princess allowed to be a child where Michiru had been a child expected to act like a princess, but something about the freedom with which the two were able to interact in such an immature but open manner warmed her in a way she couldn’t quite parse out.

Michiru sat down primly on the couch for a moment, absently smoothing her skirt as she glanced around the room at all of the various knick-knacks and photos on display. After a minute or so, she heard the thumping of little feet running down the stairs. Chibi-Usa skidded into the room, nearly toppling over, and took a moment to catch her breath before standing straight. “Michiru! Usagi said you wanted to see me?” Her eyes flickered over the table between them and she frowned, turning to scream up the stairs. “USAGI! You didn’t even offer her something to drink!”

Michiru chuckled, her hand rising to delicately cover her mouth. “I’m not planning to linger for very long, Chibi-Usa, but thank you for your hospitality.” Chibi-Usa’s cheeks flushed pink and she nodded. “I believe that you left this at our house yesterday, and I thought you may be missing it.” She pulled the sketchpad from her purse, offering it out towards the girl.

Chibi-Usa’s eyes lit up and she took it quickly, holding the book close to her chest as she twisted back and forth in an embrace with it. “I was looking for this all morning! Thank you so much!” She smiled widely during her response, prompting Michiru to smile back without even recognizing that she was doing so.

“I’m glad I was able to reunite you. I understand the anxiety of being separated from your works.”

The young girl’s happy expression fell slightly, and her bottom lip disappeared into her mouth as she bit it, her movement stilling and an expression of anxiety working its way across her features. “Did- did you look at it?”

Michiru winced internally, knowing that she was going to have to admit to the inquisitiveness that had caused her to violate Chibi-Usa’s privacy. “I did,” she affirmed, and Chibi-Usa’s expression turned more nervous. “Initially, just to determine who it belonged to, but I confess that my curiosity can best me at times, and I admit to looking through it. I am sorry if I invaded your privacy.”

Chibi-Usa blushed, face turning pink to match her hair. “It- it’s not _private_ or anything, it’s just sketches though, it’s not my best stuff or anything--” she stammered out anxiously, rocking back and forth slightly as all children do when embarrassed.

Michiru raised her eyebrows. “You mean to say that you have more works? What medium do you prefer?” She received no reply, so she decided to rephrase the question slightly. “Do you like watercolors, oil paints, pastels, sculpture…?” she trailed off, waiting for a response.

“We did all of those at school, um, but I wasn’t too good at sculpture,” she responded, face wincing as she recalled all of the assistance she had needed to complete her Holy Grail. “I like painting, mostly. Watercolors are nice because I like how light they are. It makes it look all dreamy,” she described, her eyes flicking off as though envisioning herself painting.

“Between the two of us, Chibi-Usa, I’m not talented at sculpting myself,” Michiru confided in a conspiratorial tone, and the girl seemed to relax at the idea that even an artist like Michiru wasn’t perfect at everything.

“Really?” she asked.

“Really,” Michiru affirmed. “Sculpture was the course I performed most poorly in during my schooling. I found it too abstract, too much to visualize at once, perhaps.” She cleared her throat. “I digress. I am sorry for looking through your works. I know how personal they can be.” She thought of her own sketchbooks, full of drawings of her visions, of Haruka, of things that she wouldn’t necessarily want to be shared to the world. “I assure you I won’t tell anyone about the contents of your sketches.

“I do want to tell you, though, that the reason I even perused so was because I think that you have genuine talent, Chibi-Usa.”

“Wait, seriously? You’re not just being nice, are you?” The skepticism was heavy in her tone, her small face crinkling in suspicion.

Michiru smiled. “Have you ever known me to give a compliment insincerely, just to make the recipient feel better?” There was a pause where Chibi-Usa’s light eyebrows furrowed together as she though hard before deciding on an answer and shaking her head ‘no.’ “Precisely. You have a real gift for capturing the emotion of your subjects, and I think with some refining that you could be a truly great artist. How would you like to be enrolled in some studio classes? Evenings and weekends, of course, so that they wouldn’t interfere with your traditional schooling.”

Chibi-Usa’s eyes lit up. “Really? But wait, I have to ask about--” 

Michiru held up a smooth palm. “Everything will be paid for in full; I insist. My only stipulation is that I be invited to your first gallery showing one day.” Chibi-Usa rushed forward and wrapped her in a tight hug, shocking the air out of her as the small arms squeezed around her torso. She smiled and patted the girl’s back before Chibi-Usa withdrew, flushing once more with a mixture of embarrassment and happiness.

She graciously accepted the multitude of proffered thanks before exiting, assuring Chibi-Usa that she would be receiving information via the mail in a few days regarding her upcoming coursework. The next morning, a package arrived on the Tsukinos’ steps addressed to Chibi-Usa, a card attached. The careful calligraphy on the inside read: _To get you started, from one artist to another. -M. Kaioh._

Inside the large box were thick, expensive sketchpads and painting pads, fine watercolors and brushes, shading pencils, several canvases, and other assorted supplies, each one of the highest quality, purchased from an expensive art-specialty boutique, not just the local craft store where her previous supplies had come from. Usagi’s mouth had fallen open when she saw the contents of the box, and Chibi-Usa promptly ran up to her room with the contents, eager to try out some of the new supplies that she had been given.

She unwrapped a watercolor set carefully and selected a piece of thick paper to begin her first work, smiling as the brush glided across what would become a carefully-detailed thank-you card to Michiru, one that she would secretly keep on display in her studio for years to come.


End file.
